Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Secret Wish

I'm an Oregon girl.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest I saw sea lions at the coast, cows in the Willamette Valley, fish in the lakes, deer and bear heads at my uncle's house, as well as plenty of squirrels in our yard. A fairly thorough description of the wildlife of Oregon.

But through the years there was one thing I didn't ever get to see...or ride!

Yes, my secret wish was to not only see a camel up close, but to ride one!

Have you had any friends come back from Israel telling about their camel rides? I have and crazy as it sounds, I wanted to do it!

Given that we were on a tour that was arranged for us, I didn't know if we would get to do that or not. I didn't see it on the schedule so was happily surprised when we pulled up to this spot for lunch!

After a *nice* camel ride (it really wasn't bad at all...just a little surreal!), we were met by Abraham. Yep...THAT Abraham! :) See here for an explanation of his *home* that we visited!

He invited us into his tents, saying that it would only be right to welcome in his guests and offer the best that he had!

I have to tell you - his dear wife, Sarah, is one awesome cook and I had no problem having seconds on a few of her dishes!!

And Abraham was quite hospitable as well! This mint tea was amazingly refreshing on that hot day.

As was the coffee, deeply sugared and like nothing I'd ever had before!

Abraham and Sarah don't have much in the way of a view...it's kind of desolate.

But they do have some good people around -this was Eliezer, his servant, and he assured us that his nephew, Lot, was nearby!

After a truly sumptuous meal of all we could eat, Eliezer guided us back along the hill country so we could enter into the 21st century again.

As we loped along on the camel, I could imagine, in a small way, what life was like for Abraham and Sarah all those years ago.

They didn't have an easy life, but oh how thankful I am for their faithfulness to God, which paved the way for us to follow God today. I love that I am a descendant of Abraham!!

I write Living By Lysa to capture our life and ministry in the Czech Republic as we serve with Josiah Venture, an organization passionate about sharing Jesus with the next generation in Central and Eastern Europe.

Life is made up of small details each day and those are the pieces that make our lives rich, beautiful and meaningful. I enjoy noticing and writing about those details.

I usually have various pages that tell more about our ministry, history and life but because of a problem with Photobucket, I'm not able to include those on my blog right now. Working on a solution and hope to have a redesign soon!